The reason slavery lasted so long was that it was so essential to the economy in the south that they couldn't get rid of it or they would go into recession. Every vote from a black man counted as only 3/5 of a normal vote
. The majority of the population was enslaved African Americans. Slave men and women could not own property. When the states applied for statehood, it caused problems because they didn't know whether they were going to be a free state or a slave state.
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| Maria, a woman who got tricked and forced into slavery |